Hand star wrench

ABSTRACT

A manual wrench for use as a high speed, low torque drive apparatus for making and breaking threaded connections and an increased leverage handle for applying high torque, low speed application in making or breaking threaded connections.

United States Patent- 11 1 Wilson 1 1 Nov. 12, 1974 [541 HAND STAR WRENCH 2,895.364 7/1959 Heinz 81/177 6 W I 2.951282 9/1960 Albright .7 29/281 x [76] lnwmor- 'F d 7918 2,959,995 11/1960 Linden 81/119 ux Wmdswept, Housmn, 77042 3.003.379 10/1961 Pribitzer 81/90 B 22] Fi1ed: Jan. 5, 1973 Primary ExaminerA1 Lawrence Smith [211 App! 321315 Assistant Examiner.1ames G. Smith Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Prave1 & Wilson [52] US. Cl. 81/175, 81/125 1 [51] Int. [58] Field of Search 131/532, 74, 121 R, 175, 1

81/90 P, 90 AB, 177 G, 177 C; A manual wrench for use as a high speed, low torque 1 5 C 1 EA, 6] 29/2 1 drive apparatus for making and breaking threaded connections and an increased leverage handle for ap- 5 1 References Cited p1ying high torque, low speed application in making or UNITED STATES PATENTS breaking threaded connections. 1.407.051; 2 1922 2 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures Fuilmer 81/175 UX HAND STAR WRENCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains to manual wrenches for connecting and disconnecting threaded members such as bolts, nuts, screws and other threaded connection members.

2. Description of the Prior Art Of the many varieties of wrenches and tools for rotating a threaded workpiece which have been available in SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention provides a new and improved hand star wrench comprising a disc or plate-type housing with a plurality of circumferentially spacedradially extending projections which may be engaged by the finger tips for manually rotating such disc or housing. The disc or housing includes a centered receptacle which is either hexagonal, square or some other standard shape for engaging the head of a nut, bolt, screw of other threaded connecting member. A drive handle or leverage device which will afford some mechanical advantage is also provided that engages the circumferentially spaced and radially projecting members or lugs for rotating the disc either clockwise or counterclockwise to enable a mechanical advantage to be applied to the wrench when high torque is required.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view showing the wrench of the 7 present invention positioned for engaging a bolt;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wrench illustrated in FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the wrench shown operably connected to a screw driver for rotating the screw driver;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the wrench with the mechanical advantage lever arm attached thereto;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an alternate embodiment of the wrench of the present invention with adjustable aws; I

FIG. 6 is an adapter for connecting a standard socket wrench to the 'wrench drive apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan viewof an alternate embodiment of the present invention showing a key drive projecting from the wrench handle;v

FIG. 8 is a scale view of the wrench shown in FIG. 7;.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a wrench having a locking DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The wrench apparatus of the present invention, designated genrally W in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings comprises a plate or disc-shaped member 12 having a front 12a and a back side 12b and having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending projections 14 formed thereon. Such projections 14 are separated by inwardly extending indentations or depressions 15 so as to form a hand-held wrench which is readily engageable for holding for movement by ones finger tips.

A housing H is provided with the wrench W which projects laterally from the side 12a and which is positioned centrally with respect to the plate W. Such housing H is provided with an aperture or opening 16 that is positioned approximately at the center of the plate member W so that rotation of such plate member W by the hand or other means will cause the housing H to revolve around the axis of the aperture 16. As shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, such aperture or opening 16 is formed with a plurality of wrench faces which are provided for engaging the faces of a nut 17 or the faces on the head of a bolt such as 18. Thus, it will be appreciated that with a nut 17 inserted into the aperture 16 rotation of the housing H by means of rotating the plate W will cause such nut 17 to turn so as to drive the nut 17 with respect to the threaded bolt 19. It will be appreciated that the wrenches of the present invention will be made with various standard size aperture 16 for receiving standard nut sizes 17 whether graduated in fractions of an inch or metric sizes. Also',it will beappreciated that the wrench may be made with a large aperture for receiving large size nuts which'are tightened by striking with a hammer soasto provide a replaceable strike surface for tightening and loosening such large nuts. Also, as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings, the

wrench faces 16a are slightly tapered inwardly from the outer end 25 to the inner end 26 so as to provide a slightly wedge-shaped or tapered shaped receptacle for receiving the nut l7, the bolt head l8, or some other workpiece. The inwardly inclined or tapered side 16a of the receptacles 16will cause the size of the opening to reduce from the front side or opening 25"to the rear end 26 so that by moving the wrench with respect to the workpiece, it may be readily gripped or wedged into the aperture to facilitate establishing a firm, con-.

nection between the wrench W and the workpiece. Further, the inner end 26 or other parts of the wrench are preferably magnetized or made of magnetic material to facilitate holding the workpiece in the wrench.

With respect to the FIG. 3 embodiment of the wrench apparatus of the present invention, there is shown a screw driver designated generally S whichcomprises a screw drive shaft 20 rotatably mounted in a tubular handle 21. The front end 20a of the screw drive shaft comprises a standard screw engaging memher which is a standard blade (as shown) or maybe a cross or Phillips Head drive or some other configurasurface 27b for engaging the edge of the screwhead to functionally hold such screw in position for driving.

FIG. of the drawings shows the variable jaw embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention which includes a central opening 30 that extends through the plate 12 and which has a pair of lugs or projections 32 and 34 formed on or secured to the side 12a of such disc-shaped wrench 12. The projections 32 and 34 are provided with threaded passages (not shown) for receiving the threaded shafts 36. Each of such threaded shafts 36 is provided with a knurled turning knob or head 37 on its outer end and with jaws 38 on its inner end for engaging a workpiece such as a nut 17, a bolt head 18 or some other workpiece, as desired. It will be appreciated that the opposed jaws 38 may be moved diametrically together or apart to connect the wrench W to the workpiece and that with jaws locked on the workpiece, rotation of the disc 12 will rotate the jaws and the workpiece attached thereto.

FIG. 4 illustrates a leverage or mechanical advantage device which may be used to increase the torque which may be applied with the wrench W. Such leverage handle 40 includes a circular portion 41 which has an inner serpentine surface 43 which conforms to the outer serpentine surface on the hand star wrench W so as to interen gage the plurality of radially extending projections 14 with corresponding recesses 44 in the circular member 41. As shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings, the circular member 41 is provided with a relieved or open section so as to facilitate inserting and removing the member 41 with respect to the wrench W. However, it will be appreciated that the member 41 can completely encircle the wrench W to form in effect a box end type wrench for gripping and turning the disc 12. With the FIG. 4 embodiment, it will be appreciated that the leverage handle will provide a substantial mechanical advantage to increase the amount of torque which may readily be applied to the workpiece by the wrench W.

FIG. 6 illustrates an attachment for connecting the shaft 50 which may be used to connect a socket drive apparatus 51 to the wrench W. Such shaft 50 is preferably provided a square head 53 which is insertable into the receptacle 16 in the wrench W for connecting such shaft 50 to the wrench W. The opposite end of the shaft 50 is also provided with a standard square drive 55 which is insertable into a corresponding square opening 56 in the socket 51 for rotating such socket. Thus, with the shaft or adapter 50, the wrench W may be used to drive a standard socket such as 51.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show another embodiment of the hand wrench of the present invention with a drive member 60 which projects from one side of the hand star wrench body 12. The drive member 60 is shown positioned approximately at the center of such hand star wrench and being formed with a hexagonal configuration for insertion into a hexagonally shaped opening in threaded screws and other connecting members. However, it will be appreciated that drive members of other configurations than the hexagonal one shown in the drawings can also be employed with the hand star wrench handle 12. For example, the drive projection 60 can be square, may be formed in the configuration of a cross or some other configuration, as desired.

FIGS. 9 and show yet a further embodiment of the present invention comprising a locking member 70 mounted for rotation adjacent one face of the wrench body 12. The locking member designated generally 70 comprises a ring 71 having a handle or operating lever 72 and a threaded opening 73 which is adapted to be moved or turned concentrically with respect to the threaded opening 74 in the wrench housing or body 12. The ring 71 has a groove 82 in the edge 83 which receives the shoulder 85 on the housing 12. When the openings 73 and 74 are positioned so their respective threads are aligned with respect to one another, the spring loaded detent 90 is inserted into the opening 91. Thereafter, movement of the operating lever or handle 72 in a clockwise direction as indicated by the arrow 80 will cause the threads in opening 73 to tighten with respect to the threads in the opening 74 and thereby bind or grip any threaded workpiece, such as a nipple or the like, which extends through both openings 73 and 74. Thereafter, with the workpiece locked to the wrench handle or body 12, rotation of the wrench will rotate the workpiece therewith.

In the operation of the apparatus of the present in vention, it will be appreciated that in many instances it is desirable to either hold a workpiece such as a nut 17 while a bolt 18 is being threaded into the nut 17, or in many other instances once the threaded connection has been made it is desirable to have a means for applying low torque to the threaded nut 17 for quickly running it up on the threaded shaft 19. In many instances it is either inconvenient or undesirable or in some instances simply impossible to apply sufficient torque with ones fingers to the nut 17 to thread it on the shaft 19 but on the other hand the torque requirements are really not enough to warrant the use of a standard wrench for making the connection and the mechanic or operator is faced with the frustrating situation of either having to struggle to make the connection simply manually with his finger tips or to become engaged in a long, in-

- volved laborious process of turning the nut 17 with a standard wrench which provides far more torque than the situation demands. Thus, it will be appreciated that the wrench W of the apparatus of the present invention provides an apparatus which will enable one to apply the required amount of torque to a workpiece such as a nut 17 and yet which is operable manually by ones finger tips so as to enable the mechanic to make the threaded connection very quickly on the shaft 19.

Thus, it can be understood that the nut 17 can be spunup or run up very quickly on the shaft 19 until the high torque requirements of the final fastening steps are encountered at which time the leverage or mechanical advantage device illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings may be connected to the wrench handle W so that additional torque may then be applied to the workpiece via the wrench W so as to tighten the workpiece and complete the connection.

While various standard types of threaded connectors have been illustrated in the drawings such as the standard hexagonal bolt head 18 and nut 17 and the standard screw drive apparatus 22, it will be appreciated that the wrench W may be used with substantially type of threaded connector such as a Phillips screw driver,

an Allen wrench or some other variety of work engaging drive apparatus.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and materials as well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A wrench conprising:

a substantially circular wrench plate having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending projections thereon, said radial projections having inwardly extending indentations for operative engagement by finger tips therewith; and,

a wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate having a plurality of wrench faces formed therein for engaging a workpiece for imparting rotation to such workpiece, said wrench faces being movably mounted with respect to said wrench plate whereby the opening between said wrench faces may be adjusted for receiving and connecting to various size workpieces.

2. A wrench comprising:

a substantially circular wrench plate having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending projections thereon, said radial projections having I inwardly extending indentations for operative engagement by the finger tips therewith; and,

a wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate having a locking plate mounted therewith for rotation adjacent said wrench plate for engaging a workpiece, said locking plate having a locking plate aperture overlapping said wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate, and an offset gripping means for moving said locking plate so as to misalign the locking aperture in said locking plate relative to said wrench plate aperture in saidwrench plate and thereby gripping the workpiece extending through the misalignment of said wrench plate aperture and said locking plate aperture for imparting rotation to such workpiece. 

1. A wrench conprising: a substantially circular wrench plate having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending projections thereon, said radial projections having inwardly extending indentations for operative engagement by finger tips therewith; and, a wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate having a plurality of wrench faces formed therein for engaging a workpiece for imparting rotation to such workpiece, said wrench faces being movably mounted with respect to said wrench plate whereby the opening between said wrench faces may be adjusted for receiving and connecting to various size workpieces.
 2. A wrench comprising: a substantially circular wrench plate having a plurality of circumferentially spaced radially extending projections thereon, said radial projections having inwardly extending indentations for operative engagement by the finger tips therewith; and, a wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate having a locking plate mounted therewith for rotation adjacent said wrench plate for engaging a workpiece, said locking plate having a locking plate aperture overlapping said wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate, and an offset gripping means for moving said locking plate so as to misalign the locking aperture in said locking plate relative to said wrench plate aperture in said wrench plate and thereby gripping the workpiece extending through the misalignment of said wrench plate aperture and said locking plate aperture for imparting rotation to such workpiece. 